Art Johnson and the District 6 school board race

It’s too bad school board seats are fractured into single-member districts. Otherwise, teachers throughout Palm Beach County could have a say in all five school board races on Tuesday’s ballot. As it is, donors can cross district lines but voters can’t.

I remain surprised that Art Johnson and Jeffrey Hernandez haven’t been bigger issues in the campaigns. I didn’t hear any candidates say they’d fire Dr. Johnson.

The District 6 seat, from which longtime incumbent Sandra Richmond is retiring, offers the closest thing to a pro-Art, anti-Art election. Dean Grossman is the pro-Art candidate and Marcia Andrews is the anti-Art candidate. I think the third candidate, Ron Young, a Creationist, is an also-ran. (But who knows?)

Marcia Andrews

Dean Grossman

Ron Young

In any case, in 2006 Dr. Johnson forced Marcia Andrews out of her job in the Human Resources department and made her a principal at Polo Park Middle School. Her supporters called that a demotion. During her interview with the Editorial Board, Ms. Andrews, who retired last year, said she held no grudges and even said she thought Dr. Johnson has done a good job. Asked point blank if Dr. Johnson should remain as superintendent, she said, “Yes.” So did Dean Grossman.

The points on which they differed most? Ms. Andrews said she’d like to reinstate step raises for teachers. Mr. Grossman said no to that. She opposed SB 6, the Legislature’s merit-pay plan for teachers that Gov. Crist vetoed. Asked whether he supported it, Mr. Grossman said, “Yes, to an extent.” But he says Gov. Crist was right to veto it. (An update: Mr. Grossman called me after reading the blog to clarify that he thinks teachers should be given ways to qualify for higher salaries, but that he thinks SB6 is the wrong way to do it.)

Ms. Andrews said D and F schools should keep parts of the Jeffrey Hernandez regime that can be shown to work. Mr. Grossman said D and F schools shouldn’t keep any part of it.

Ms. Andrews has said she’d look for money for raises by reducing contracts with outside consultants. An example she offered: $426,878 for outside legal counsel. Mr. Grossman says he’d go over the contracts to look for cuts but praises Dr. Johnson and the school because, “The budget was trimmed from $3.2 billion to $2.7 billion while not making any layoffs to employees.”

Asked about blame for the Hernandez debacle, Ms. Andrews said, “I think some of it falls on Dr. Johnson. He should have known better.” But mostly she blamed the school board, with which she has been “less than impressed.” Mr. Grossman says the way Dr. Johnson handled the Hernandez issue was “a disaster.”
We endorsed Ms. Andrews because she has far and away more experience than Mr. Grossman, who was a substitute teacher briefly many years ago. Now, he is a radio sales executive. He last taught in 1996, he said. He says he was an unconventional teacher. “I would take my kids outside.” It was, he said, “Something like the Dead Poet’s Society.” Kids, he said, “Need to understand that learning can be fun.”

Mr. Grossman graduated from Spanish River in 1990 and was there when Art. Johnson was principal. “He was an amazing principal,” Mr. Grossman says. Of Ms. Andrews, he says, “I think she is very angry at the superintendent.”

The contribution lists for Mr. Grossman and Ms. Andrews are interesting. Mr. Grossman has cash from “EL Ecclestone” and George Elmore, long-time power players from the business and development folks. Also from Florida Crystals and Nat Roberts – who represent big agriculture and the land it’s on.

Ms. Andrews has contributions from CTA President Robert Dow and the CTA itself, as well as from charter school operator Amefika Geuka, who barely missed having the school’s charter pulled this year. Those interested can check the full contribution lists here.

A reader emailed me a link showing that Mr. Grossman’s support for Dr. Johnson goes back at least as far as Dr. Johnson’s fight with Joan Kowal. (Another update: Mr. Grossman says he did a radio show in support of Dr. Johnson in 1997 but has not had a continuing relationship with the superintendent.) Back then, Superintendent Kowal forced Dr. Johnson out as principal at Spanish River High School. He retaliated by suing the district and then winning a school board seat. Now he’s the superintendent and on the hot seat himself.

None of Tuesday’s races is a straight referendum on Dr. Johnson, but District 6 is the closest.